On 13 July 2001, Edward Pollard reported on the
OrientalBirding list that local people have invaded and cleared formerly
good birding habitat in Lore Lindu National Park near Palu: "The area of
lowland/lower montane forest along the track from Kamarora post to the tarred
road at Tongoa has, by all accounts, been more or less cleared to several
hundred meters from the road. The forest around the Post is still ok, and this
is still a good place for many raptors. In addition, areas on both sides of the
road running through the Park, up a valley known as Dongi-dongi, have been
cleared."

Phil Benstead reported on
OrientalBirding that uncontrolled logging has caused considerable damage in
Bogani Nani-Wartabone National Park (formerly Dumoga-Bone National Park) on the
Minahasa Peninsula. A second Cinnabar Hawk-Owl, Ninox ios,
previously known from one specimen taken in 1985 at 1140 m in Bogani
Nani-Wartabone NP, was mist-netted in the Gunung Ambang Nature Reserve (east of
Bogani Nani-Wartabone) at 1420 m in November 1999. R.J. Lee and J. Riley,
Wilson Bull. (2001) 113(1): 17-22. Since then, the patch of forest where the
bird was caught has been cleared by farmers and surrounding forest severely
degraded by selective logging. The owl may also be threatened by commercial bat
trappers who supply the wild meat market.

A study of Yellow-breasted Racquet-tail Parrot, Prioniturus flavicans,
shows that the species has a much more restricted distribution than previously
believed, being confined to the eastern two-thirds of the northern peninsula.
Population densities were more than twice as great in the Bogani Nani Wartabone
National Park than in the Tangkoko Duasaudara Nature Reserve. Jonathan Walker &
Alexis Cahill, Bird Conservation International 10(2):131-136 (June 2000).

It
was quite a surprise to find an online photo of the little-known Geomalia of the
Sulawesi highlands, and on the same site (Nell
Tours) a photo of the endemic Blue Cuckoo-Shrike and
Maleo, which
though rare are much more likely to be seen than Geomalia. (The best known
Geomalia site, on the Dongi-Dongi road, may have been cleared in 2001 -- see
above.)

Ben
King reports having observed a probable new species of small flycatcher in Lore
Lindu National Park in 1997. He taped the bird's call notes and located a pair
in another place a few days later. The species has been video recorded by Pete
Morris, who also found and videotaped a male Satanic Nightjar,
Eurostopodus diabolicus, at Lore Lindu.

Other interesting observations on Sulawesi by David Bishop et al. included a
pair of Yellow-crested Cockatoos, Cacatua sulphurea, flying after dawn to
coastal swamp forest just a few km east of Moutong, North Sulawesi, and a
Sulawesi Hawk-Cuckoo, Cuculus crassirostris, at Dumoga-Bone National
Park, which is being logged intensively, like most accessible sites in
Indonesia.

Flores Green Pigeons Treron floris have been found in good
numbers on the small islands of Alor, Lembata, and Pulau Besar. A flock of 40-50
in eastern Alor is apparently the largest ever observed.
World Birdwatch 24:3 (September 2002).

Indonesia - Talaud Islands: In September 1996,
Frank Lambert purchased specimens of two new species of rails from a bird
trapper on Karakelong, an island midway between Mindanao and Halmahera. He
described the TALAUD RAIL, Gymnocrex talaudensis in
FORKTAIL
13:1-6(1998), and the TALAUD BUSH HEN, Amaurornis magnirostris in Bull.
B.O.C. 118(2):67-82 (1998). The latter bird is sympatric with the Bush Hen,
which Frank has split into two species, A. olivaceus of the Philippines,
and A. moluccanus, ranging from the Moluccas and Sangibe to Australia. A
new species of Ninox owl also has been discovered on the Talaud Islands.
A description will be published in due course.

Indonesia - Sangihe: Frank Lambert also
discovered that the scops owl on nearby Sangihe is a new species, named Sangihe
Scops Owl, O. collari. See Bull. B.O.C. 118(4):204-217 (1998).

Highlights of a Rapid Assessment Program carried out by
Conservation International
in the Freeport-McMoran mining area included Papuan Whipbird, Androphobus
viridis, observed at helipad 55 (1,890 m). One of the most poorly-known
birds of New Guinea, Brass's Friarbird, Philemon brassi, was found to be
fairly common at Wapoga Alpha (1,070 m) and Logari, LS 21 (275 m). Previously
this species was known only from a few locations in the Idenburg drainage and
only a handful of specimens exist. (A. Mack and Wahyu).

It was reported on 10 Jan 2000 that the MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship)
is refusing to land at the Wamena airport because of unsafe conditions -- people
and livestock on the runway. There apparently are no other regular passenger
services between Jayapura and Wamena. (In 1988, my friends and I made the trip
in the back of an ancient DC-3 cargo plane because the passenger flight was
full.)

Papua New Guinea: David Bishop found the first
known grey-morph Starry Owlet-Nightjar Aegothels tatei (see
below for an illustration of the rufous morph) in an area of slightly
rolling, primary lowland forest along the Dringas Road, c. 17km north of Kiunga,
Western Province. David writes that "the bold silvery-white 'stars' at the point
where the wing joins the body are diagnostic, as is the fine whitish speckling
giving the bird a slightly forested appearance." This apparently was the first
field observation of the species as well as an extension of the known range.

In the January 2000 issue of the
Auk, Thane Pratt
proposed the elevation to species status of the
Starry
Owlet-Nightjar, Aegotheles tatei, from the southern lowlands of Papua New
Guinea. It previously had been lumped with the montane Feline Owlet-Nightjar,
A. insignis. I highly recommend that anyone interested in the identification
and relationships of the large Aegotheles obtain a copy of this article,
as the author has included much detailed information, including three
charts comparing tatei, insignis, and the closely-related Moluccan
Owlet-Nightjar, A. crinifrons. In addition, the issue includes a superb
cover plate and a black-and-white illustration of the head by Jim Coe.
[Neotropical birders will note the striking plumage convergence with the
Ocellated Poorwill, Nyctiphrynus ocellatus.]

See A.W. Kratter et al., Auk (2001) 118(2): 472-483 for details on
birds observed and collected during field studies on Isabel. A highlight was the
discovery that Woodford's Rail Nesoclepeus woodfordi, a large, flightless
wood-rail, is locally common.

In July 2002, Guy Dutson photographed an unknown rail on Malaita. The rail
closely resembled Woodford's Rail, but was browner with more pale spots on the
wings.
World Birdwatch 24:3 (September 2002).

New Caledonia: Murray Lord reports that Rivière
Bleu National Park, the most reliable publicly accessible site for Kagu
and Crow Honeyeater, is closed due to cyclone damage. It will not reopen before
mid-June 2003.

The New Caledonian Owlet-Nightjar Aegothelse savesi rediscovered? Joe
A. Tobias & Jonathan M.M. Ekstrom. Bull. B.O.C. 122(4): 282-285 (2002).
The bird was observed at 18:40 on 5 November 1998 along a disused logging road
in the Rivière Ni valley on the western flank of the Massif de Kouakoué,
Province Sud, in riverine humid forest on moderate slopes at c. 1,000 m.

Another small island endemic turned up in Australia on 17 December 1999, when
an exhausted Abbott's Booby, Papasula abbotti, was found roosting in a
tree at the Eco Beach Resort on the Broome Peninsula, WA. After a few meals of
fish, it was on its way.

At about 18:30 on 1 June 1998, Hugh Dingle observed a probable Night
Parrot, Pezoporus occidentalis, on the edge of the bitumen along the
Dajarra/Cloncurry Road, northwest Queensland, about 25 km south of the
intersection with the Mt. Isa/Cloncurry Road in an area of grassy woodland in a
valley between rocky hills. Habitat in the area south of Malbon where there have
been previous Night Parrot sightings has been destroyed by pigs and cows.